Sovereignty – The Divine Right of Everyone

I have spoken to the subject of Sovereignty before and will certainly do so again, so you might as well read this post and tune in to why I think the subject is important.

Personal Sovereignty is the inalienable right we each have to be responsible for ourselves and to maintain personal rule over our inner self. While the topic may sound esoteric and of little practical value, it is very important for each of us personally. It speaks to the reason why God can and will judge us for our actions. It also speaks to the way we relate to others and to the power others can exercise over us. It speaks to the responsibilities we carry, the accountabilty we must give, the power we can exercise and the divine potential of our life.

I refer to Sovereignty as “The Divine Right of Everyone” to highlight the fact that personal sovereignty is universal for us humans. God has personal sovereignty too. Our sovereignty is subject to His, since He is our creator, and so He has a much higher place in the grand scheme of things than we do. There is no real need to argue that God has a divine role superior to humanity. That is a given by virtue of the common definition of who God is. My focus is on the amazing equality that humans have. ‘The Divine Right of Kings’ speaks of a specially privileged place which rulers claim as their own. ‘The Divine Right of Everyone’ is my way of pointing to something that is equally owned by all humans, no matter what their station in life.

I want to draw evidence for that equality from an event that occured in the life of Abraham, almost 4,000 years ago. Historical records tell us that Abraham had a small army of trained servants. He put that army to work to rescue his nephew, Lot, who was taken captive by an invading army. On his journey home, after winning a total victory, Abraham met a divine prince, Melchizedek. This strange princely priest was divine – as he did not have father or mother. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, who gave a tenth of all that he had to the priest. In the historical narrative the event comes and goes and nothing more is said about it, except for a short prophetic statement by King David (approximately 1,000 BC) in one of his psalms (Psalm 110:4).

In the New Testament, however, almost 2,000 years after Abraham, new light was shed on this transient encounter. In Hebrews 7:7, after recounting the meeting of Abraham and Melchisedek and the fact that the priest blessed Abraham, it is pointed out that “the less is blessed by the better”. That is to say that the divine is able to bless the human, because God is greater than man.

If personal sovereignty was not equally shared among humans then there would be a pecking order of human superiority. The greater would be able to confer blessings on the lesser. Kings and people of personal might would be seen to be the originators of blessing for lesser people and underlings. Yet, on the human plane, those who might be deemed to be ‘lesser’ in terms of their station may equally confer blessing on those who are their superiors. Let me show you an example from the historical records collated in the Bible.

In the book of Ruth, speaking of events that occurred approximately 1,300BC, we see the wealthy landowner, Boaz visiting his employees. If the right to bless others is only conferred on those of superior station in life, then Boaz would do the blessing and the underlings would wait to receive his graces. This is not what we find. Ruth 2:4 records: “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless you.” The servants conferred blessing on their boss! Is this not an outrageous act? Should not Boaz be incensed by their impertinence? How dare they speak to their employer, the mighty Boaz, as if they had anything to give him? Boaz was perfectly happy to receive their blessing.

The reason they could do so is because of personal sovereignty. Each man and woman on the planet has the same right to stand before God and the same right to be in relationship with God, that every other person is given. So the servants of Boaz could just as readily go into God’s presence to invoke a blessing on Boaz as he could go to God to confer a blessing on them. The divine right of kings does not work here. Kings have a peculiar set of responsibiltiies and privileges, but they have no more personal sovereignty than the lowliest servant or street urchin in their kingdom.

Every human on the planet, no matter their gender, age, social status, health, geographical location, cultural background or whatever, is invited, equally, to become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Every drop of innocent human blood is able to cry equally to God for vengeance. Every person alive is allowed to cry out to God and call upon Him for salvation and deliverance. Every widow and fatherless child is watched over by God, no matter what their religion, culture, social standing, and so on.

There is a profound equality which empowers us all to stand before God and to do His bidding for our lives. We have the right to get about God’s business. We have the privilege of drawing on God’s resources, no matter what tyrrany we are under, or what limitation has been pressed on us.

Praise God for personal sovereignty. It is an inalienable privilege which we should all explore. People may limit our physical liberty, steal our material goods, injur our physical bodies, block our employment opportunities, look down on us, falsely accuse us, and many other inhumane things. But they cannot stop us from stepping into God’s presence and doing business with the God of all eternity.

Tags: abraham, bible, christ, culture, divine right of kings, faith, God, grace, inalienable right, Jesus, melchizedek, personal rule, personal sovereignty, relationship, responsibility, sovereignty